Cody Howard, Chair (chair.dob@sicb.org); Morgan Furze, Program Officer (dpo.dob@sicb.org); Aleca Borsuk, Interim Secretary (secretary.dob@sicb.org); Ogonna Eli, Student-Postdoc Representative (ogonnaeli@yahoo.com)
Message from DOB Leadership
Hello all!
My name is Cody Coyotee Howard, and I am excited to begin my role as Chair for the Division of Botany (DOB) of SICB! Since the introduction of DOB in 2019, the division leadership has been steadily working towards growing the representation of the botanical community at SICB. I look forward to continuing these efforts over my tenure as Division Chair as well as fostering collaboration across research domains, increasing our membership, and providing more opportunities for students and early-career researchers to be involved not only in DOB but SICB as a whole. The annual SICB conference is an excellent place for sharing exciting, new research that spans research disciplines, and I look forward to engaging with you all as we work together to expand the impact of our botanical division.
SICB 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia was a fantastic success for DOB! We had an impressive number of student researchers presenting their plant-related research, with 10 posters and 4 oral presentations. Year after year, it never ceases to inspire me when seeing so many early career scientists sharing their work and engaging with other scientists. In DOB, we aim to continue building upon this energy as we prepare for SICB 2026, which will be in Portland, Oregon in January. We hope to see even more botanists and plant biologists represented across sessions, symposia, and networking events. Be sure to keep a lookout for upcoming announcements regarding SICB 2026 and how you can get involved with DOB.
I’d also like to take this time to thank and re-introduce our leadership team of DOB; it takes a village to build a growing Division! Working alongside me are Dr. Ulrike Muller as Past Chair, Dr. Morgan Furze as Program Officer, Aleca Borsuk as Interim Secretary, and Ogonna Eli as Student/Postdoc Representative. Each of these individuals brings enthusiasm, and together, we are committed to making DOB a welcoming and vibrant home for botanical researchers at SICB.
Whether you have been with us since our beginnings in 2019 or are new to the Division, I encourage you to get involved—submit to SICB journals, participate in the upcoming meeting in Portland, and help us grow our community. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or ideas on how to maximize our reach. I look forward to working with and for all of you, and I hope to see many of you in Portland in 2026!
Best, Cody Coyotee Howard
Highlights from SICB 2025
Best Student Presentation Competition
Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2025 Best Student Presentation (BSP) competition, including students, judges, and attendees. We had our biggest year yet of student participation with 15 students competing! Our Best Student Presentation talk and poster winners were:
Botany BSP talk winner: Andrew Egesa, Environmental impacts and adaptations on Uniola paniculata L, an ecologically important species.
Botany BSP poster winner: Danica Belman, Size selectivity in aquatic carnivorous plants: expanding predator-prey models to plant predation.
Pictures from SICB 2025
SICB 2026: Portland, OR, 3-7 January
At our next annual meeting in 2026, look for these (among other) plant-related symposia:
- Needle in the haystack: Finding tools to study puncture and injection mechanisms across biology
- Sex across origins: Questioning animal-centric assumptions and developing integrative frameworks
- Behavioral and environmental monitoring with open-source, low-cost tools
- Spotlighting the role of behavior in a rapidly changing world
Upcoming SICB Election
Please vote! DOB is electing a new Divisional Secretary, Chair-Elect, and Program Officer-Elect this year. All DOB members, including students, are encouraged to vote! More information about the DOB Pcandidates is below. The ballot can be accessed HERE.
If you are interested in running for DOB office in future elections, please reach out to Cody Howard at chair.dob@sicb.org. We encourage all DOB members to consider how to get involved!
Candidate for DOB Secretary
Name: Aleca Borsuk
Current Position: Assistant Curator, New York Botanical Garden
Education: BS, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa (2017); MESc, Yale School of the Environment (2019); PhD, Yale University (2024)
Professional Experience: Assistant Curator, New York Botanical Garden (Current); Assistant Professor, CUNY Graduate Center (Current)
Research Interests: Aleca studies plant form & function across Earth’s diverse environments to understand how plant anatomy promotes carbon assimilation, provides resilience to abiotic stress, and informs sustainable technologies that derive function from structure. Her approach uses recent innovations in three-dimensional imaging and computer modeling combined with benchtop experiments, fieldwork, and greenhouse studies to uncover the mechanistic basis of nature’s ‘living materials’.
SICB Activities: As a graduate student, I attended the 2021 SICB annual meeting, including participating in the Divisional Best Student Presentation competition. Served as interim secretary since spring 2024.
Statement of Goals: As DOB Secretary, I would look forward to supporting our emerging division. My goal would be to capture and connect the people, programs, and activities of our members, help celebrate our progress, and pave the way for an expanded network of plant scientists within the organismal and integrative biology community. Thank you for your consideration!
Candidate for DOB Program Officer-Elect
Name: Bryan MacNeill
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate (Smith Lab), Cornell University
Education: Bachelor of Science in Integrative Biology from the University of South Florida; Ph.D. at the University of Alabama
Research Interests: My research focuses on plant systematics, collections-based studies, and botanical pedagogy. My dissertation investigated herbarium specimens and the evolution of floral traits and pollinator interactions in Agave subgenus Manfreda. As a postdoctoral associate in Dr. Michelle Smith’s lab at Cornell, I now conduct research at the intersection of botany and open educational resources (OER), focusing on institutional support for developing, publishing, and disseminating biology-based lesson plans.
SICB Activities: Since beginning my dissertation, I have presented my research at SICB for the past five years and have served as the Student and Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (SPDAC) representative for the Division of Botany. In this role, I was instrumental in implementing our division’s strategic plan, which includes organizing workshops, staffing help booths, managing social media, and hosting social events to support early career members at the annual meetings.
Other Memberships: In addition to my work with SICB, I have served on several professional society committees, including the Nominations Committee for the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. For the past six years, I have also organized the Disabled in Botany affinity group within the Botanical Society of America and am hosting a symposium at this year’s meeting.
Statement of Goals: As Program Officer-Elect, I would strive to implement a program that is integrative, inclusive, and engaging. I aim to work collaboratively with other SICB Division of Botany officers to secure external support and develop a symposium of broad interest to the entire SICB community, while keeping plants at the center.
Candidate for DOB Chair-Elect
Name: Stephanie Crofts
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Biology, College of the Holy Cross
Education: B.A. University of Chicago (Biology – 2006); Ph.D. University of Washington (Friday Harbor Labs, Biomechanics – 2015)
Professional Experience: Assistant Professor (2020 – present), College of the Holy Cross; Post-doctoral researcher in Biomechanics (2017 – 2020), Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, University of IL, Urbana-Champaign; Post-doctoral researcher in Biomechanics (2015 – 2017), Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
SICB Activities: I first attend a SICB conference as a graduate student in 2008, have attended almost every meeting since, and have been active member of the Division of Comparative Biomechanics (DCB), the Division of Vertebrate Morphology (DVM) and more recently have joined the Division of Botany (DOB). I have served as a judge for best student poster and presentation competitions for both DCB and DVM.
Other Memberships: At various times I have also been a member of the International Society for Vertebrate Morphology and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists, but SICB has always been my home society.
Research Interests: Broadly speaking my research is in comparative biomechanics, with a focus on biological weapons and armor. Current and upcoming projects in my lab include work on sea urchins, three-spine sticklebacks, crocodilian teeth, and the form/function of plant puncture tools.
Goals Statement: As I said, I see SICB as my home society. A large part of that is that the society makes a concerted effort to foster a sense of belonging for all members. My main goal for the Division of Botany is to help it grow, and in doing so embrace this sense of belonging. As a relatively new division that is still finding its identity, especially at a time in the US when there is significant push-back against efforts to encourage diversity and equity, I think DOB is in a unique position to incorporate this ethos of belonging as we bring in new members, both those already a part of SICB and those who are new to the society. Plants are everywhere. They can be found in rural and urban environments, can be grown inside and outside, meaning Botany can be a hugely accessible field, open to scientists from all walks of like and all manner of institutions. My hope is that as DOB grows, we can be a force supporting not only SICB-wide work promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, but similar efforts outside the society as well.